Workforce reductions hit Nevada amid recession

It’s no secret that Nevada has more workers in the hospitality and food service industries than any other state. About 1 in 4 are employed in these fields, the bulk of them in gaming resorts. But we've also taken the biggest hit — nearly 9 percent fewer jobs in September 2009 than in the same month two years earlier, before the recession.

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The basic fact that is causing this is that manufacturing jobs are being lost never to return. Manufacturing is the rock foundation of an economy and when it loses jobs as well as operating plants the support facilities close and even more jobs are lost. One of the reason for this is the high unit labor cost in this country. Another is the American consumer buying imports with the profits going overseas. These profits allow the foreign competitors to do research and development to further improve their product therefore making it even more competitive. It also provides the foreign competition to buy state of the art equipment improving efficiency and lowering costs. Las Vegas depends on the manufacturing base of this nation to operate and when the manufacturing numbers go down, a thing called A following A happens. Higher manufacturing unit costs and the ignorance of the American consumer is killing this nation and will continue to do so.